


some sunny day

by fangirl_squee



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: (a very small amount), Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Other, background Grand/Echo and Tender/Fourteen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 09:38:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18312998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_squee/pseuds/fangirl_squee
Summary: Gig, Grand, and Tender come across an old friend on a mission





	some sunny day

**Author's Note:**

> armstrong is the jacqui of tm and gig/armstrong could've been IT, thanks for coming to my ted talk

It was supposed to be an easy job, as though there were really ever any such thing. There was always more security than they’d been told, or additional guards, or, in this case, a section of the building that wasn’t on the blueprints.

 

Grand glared at the projection he was trying to work off of, as though he could stare hard enough to get the light to change. The blueprints stubbornly remained different to the hallway in front of them.

 

“So,” said Gig, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet.

 

“Just… give me a second,” said Grand.

 

“We don’t have a second,” said Tender, “security sweep comes by in sixty seconds.”

 

“Maybe we should just pick a door, guys,” said Gig.

 

“We don’t know what’s behind them!” said Grand, “You can’t just charge in!”

 

Gig peered over his shoulder. “I mean, according to your map there isn’t even a door here, so I should just be able to walk right through.”

 

“Grand…” said Tender warningly, her tail twitching.

 

“Okay,” said Grand, “Okay, I mean, this door is the closest to what it has on here so… this one.”

 

“Great!” said Gig, and opened the door.

 

There was a second where he and Tender both braced themselves for the blaring of an alarm but… silence. Well, silence apart from the rapidly approaching guard sweep.

 

“After you,” said Grand.

 

Tender gave him a suspicious look as she walked through, which was absolutely uncalled for in his opinion.

 

The room was little more than a stairwell, the bare cement walls matching the semi-glossy handrails that led down the staircase.

 

“Gig?” said Tender.

 

“Down here!” said Gig, apparently already half a level away.

 

“Wait for us!” hissed Tender.

 

There was a pause in Gig’s echoing footsteps. “Okay.”

 

Grand followed Tender down to where Gig was waiting, perched on the handrail. He pointed to the large number  _ 27 _ painted in black on the wall.

 

“Aren’t we supposed to be aiming for level 10?” said Gig.

 

“Yes,” said Tender, giving Grand another pointed look

 

“I was following the blueprints!” said Grand.

 

Tender shushed him. “At least it looks like no one uses this stairwell. We may as well head down.”

 

What they don’t tell you about heists is that it’s not all entering in codes and daring escapes. Sometimes it’s trudging down seventeen floors because the blueprints were off. Grand almost wished he’d brought his headphones.

 

Level 10’s big number was painted in navy blue, but otherwise it’s section of the stairwell was identical to the others they’d passed through. The door, also, looked identical. Grand eyed it suspiciously.

 

“Gig?” said Tender.

 

Gig’s eye popped out (Grand made a face), hovering around the door for a moment before returning to him.

 

“All clear,” said Gig.

 

Tender let out a deep breath, and then opened the door. On the other side of the doorway was a tall, bulky figure wearing a dark jumpsuit and a visor that covered their face. Probably more noteworthy was the gun, aimed straight at the three of them.

 

Grand took a step backwards, drawing his gun. Tender took a step to the side, putting a hand on her weapon.

 

Gig’s body relaxed, and he grinned, waving cheerfully. “Hey!”

 

The figure lifted up his visor, pushing hair out of his eyes. He smiled at Gig.

 

“Gig Kep-hart,” sighed the man, “how am I not surprised you’re involved in this?”

 

“Hey, come on,” said Gig, “aren’t you even a  _ little _ happy to see me?”

 

The man’s lips twitched. “Maybe.”

 

Gig grinned, looking extremely triumphant for someone who still had a gun pointed at them. “You missed me!”

 

“Don’t push it,” said the man.

 

“Gig,” said Tender, her voice steady and quiet, “do you… know this person?”

 

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” said Gig, “This is Armstrong, Armstrong this is Tender, and you’ve already met Grand.”

 

Grand frowned. “Armstrong… that guy from Quire with the Independance people?”

 

“It’s been a minute since I saw any of those guys. I’m just a person now, making a go of things.” Armstrong paused. “And you’re getting in the way of that.”

 

Armstrong raised his gun higher, aiming it at them in earnest. Grand tightened his grip on the gun he was holding.

 

“Whoa, hey, wait,” said Gig, raising his hands, “What if, instead of that, we all just put our guns down?”

 

“Why would I do that?” said Armstrong.

 

“So they don’t go off and hit anybody? Which, let me tell you,  _ really  _ sucks,” said Gig, “and then we can talk.” No one moved. “Come on guys, wouldn’t talking be better?”

 

Armstrong let out a long breath. “I could be convinced to find that… an acceptable de-escalation.”

 

Gig looked to Grand, who still hadn’t moved. He laid a hand on Grand’s arm, not applying any pressure other than the natural weight of it. Grand looked away from Armstrong to Gig, then sighed.

 

“Fine,” said Grand, “but if anyone gets shot here, it’s your fault.”

 

Gig nodded cheerily. “Noted!”

 

Armstrong had his gun holstered, but he kept his hand resting on it.

 

“Great!” said Gig, “Now we can talk properly.”

 

“Been a while since you and I talked  _ properly _ ,” said Armstrong.

 

To Grand’s surprise, Gig blushed, a deep pink visible even in the low light. Huh.

 

“You could have come to Brighton, you know,” said Gig.

 

Armstrong gave him a wry smile. “I don’t think I would have been much welcomed there. You seemed to be pretty busy in your streams anyway.” He frowned. “Speaking of-- what are you doing  _ here _ ?”

 

“My job,” said Gig, “What are  _ you _ doing here?”

 

“A job,” said Armstrong.

 

“The same job as we’re here to do?” said Gig.

 

“That depends on what you’re here to do,” said Armstrong.

 

Gig opened his mouth. Grand immediately put his hand over Gig’s mouth.

 

“None of you business,” said Grand.

 

Gig pulled Grand’s hand away. “Oh, come on, we’re--”

 

The screech of the alarm cut him off, the red emergency lights illuminating the darkened space.

 

“Did you trip the alarm?” said Grand.

 

“Why the hell would I do  _ that _ ?” said Armstrong.

 

“Maybe double crossing us is part of your plan!” said Grand.

 

“I didn’t even know you were gonna be here,” said Armstrong.

 

“Let’s get out of here,” said Grand.

 

He pulled at Tender’s arm, but she took a step forward instead.

 

“Oh come on,” said Grand.

 

“No, listen,” said Tender, “We’re so close, we have to follow this through.”

 

“No, we don’t, we have to get out, right Gig?”

 

Gig was, again, nowhere to be seen.

 

“Dammit,” said Grand. He looked back to Tender, who was already running towards fileroom 26B. “ _ Dammit _ .”

 

He ran after her, glancing either side as he went for signs of Gig, or guards, or easier ways out and spotting none of those things.

 

Tender had bypassed the lock by the time he reached her. She glanced at him, waving her hand at the crates on the opposite side of the room.

 

“You look in those, I’ll look in these - just grab anything that looks like it could be it and we’ll sort it out later.”

 

Grand shoved several things he thought  _ could _ be the device they were looking for into his messenger bags.

 

“ _ There _ you guys are!” said Gig, “I was starting to think you’d left without me! Anyway, Armstrong says security is almost at this level so we probably need to get out, like, right now.”

 

“How does he know?” said Grand.

 

Gig waved a hand. “He’s got this like, tracker thing- it’s pretty cool actually, I’m gonna see if he’ll let me borrow it and maybe I can can make one for us, so-”

 

“Security’s breached this level,” said Armstrong from behind him, “we have to go  _ now _ .”

 

Tender looked at Gig. “You trust this guy?”

 

“Yes,” said Gig.

 

“No,” said Grand, at the same time.

 

Tender let out a breath. “Okay. If you say you trust him then- okay. Let’s get out of here.”

 

“I said I didn’t trust him,” said Grand, following her.

 

“Which is why I didn’t ask for your opinion,” said Tender, “ _ if _ you need to tell me I told you so you can do it later.”

 

“Alright,” Armstrong was saying to Gig, “Now, on three, we break this glass.”

 

“This glass?” said Grand, “ _ This _ glass, the window glass, on the tenth floor?”

 

“Yep,” said Gig, hefting an office chair above his head.

 

“And then what?” said Grand.

 

“And then we jump out,” said Armstrong, lifting a table.

 

“ _ What _ ?” said Grand.

 

“One…” said Armstrong.

 

“Two…” said Gig.

 

“Wait, isten,” said Grand, “This plan is-”

 

“Three!”

 

The table and chair crashed through the glass window and Grand stumbled from the force of the sudden wind. Ten floors might not be as high as the twenty-seven they started on but it sure felt high when there was nothing separating you from the ground.

 

“The, uh,  _ jump out _ part of your plan…” said Tender.

 

“Just give it a second,” said Armstrong.

 

Grand could feel the vibration of security approaching. Footsteps, but also the rumble of a droid. A big one.

 

And then, another rumble, shaking the broken glass at their feet. A horn-shaped jet slowly pulled in closer to the building, a hatch on top opening up.

 

“There she is,” said Armstrong, grinning, “Alright, everybody out!”

 

Gig stepped forward first, and Tender grabbed his hand. He looked back, frowning.

 

“Are you  _ sure _ ?” said Tender.

 

“Never been surer!” said Gig, “Come on!”

 

He jumped, grabbing the side of the opening and swinging himself in. His head popped through the gap.

 

“Come on!”

 

Tender pulled at Grand’s arm. “Come on!”

 

Grand made a face and Tender made one back, turning towards the window and letting out a steadying breath before she leaped, as graceful as ever, into the opening.

 

“Go on!” said Armstrong over the wind.

 

“You first!”

 

Armstrong shrugged, taking a running jump and landing easily, leaving Grand alone with the choice of jumping out a ten story window or facing down what was probably at least thirty armed security personnel.

 

Grand jumped.

 

“Oof!”

 

“Yeah, sorry,” said Armstrong, closing the entrance, “Should have warned you about that.”

 

He was holding his arm, the material of him jumpsuit shinier than it had been. Wetter.

 

“Oh!” said Gig, his usual sunny expression clouded, “Here, let me-”

 

“I’m fine,” said Armstrong, “Gonna need you to drive the ship though. Not sure I’d be able to do evasive maneuvers.”

 

Gig’s hands flitted over Armstrong’s arm. “Okay but you have to let me patch you up when we get back.”

 

“Just like old times huh?” said Armstrong, grinning.

 

“Just consider it me paying you back,” said Gig.

 

“Well alright,” said Armstrong.

 

The  _ ping _ of gunfire hitting the ship began to sound.

 

“You know where to go,” said Armstrong.

 

“Yeah, through the- yeah,” said Gig. He looked between the doorway and Armstrong. “You’re gonna be okay until we get there, right?”

 

“We’ll keep an eye on him,” said Tender, “Go.”

 

Gig ran, and a moment later the ship lurched, speeding through the air. Grand stomach lurched with it. He clutched at the wall.

 

“Gig  _ does _ know how to fly this thing, right?” said Grand.

 

“More or less,” said Armstrong.

 

“Where’s your medkit?” said Tender.

 

Armstrong waved at the tall locker bolted to one side. “It’s just a scratch.”

 

“That’s a lot of blood for just a scratch,” said Tender.

 

“You hit a security bot, they hit back,” said Armstrong.

 

“Gig’s probably going to want to take you to our medical bay, once we get back to our ship,” said Tender, watching his reaction carefully.

 

“And how would the rest of your crew feel about that?”

 

“I think… if Gig says we can trust you, then we can trust you,” said Tender. “That's enough for now, at least.”

 

Grand made a face at the back of Tender’s head.

 

“Somehow I don’t think that feeling is unanimous,” said Armstrong, laughter clear in his voice.

 

The rest of the flight was quick, if a little rougher than Grand would have liked. Gig took a  _ lot _ of sharp corners that Grand wasn’t sure were necessary, but at least he didn’t hit anything. The moment the docked into  _ The World Without End _ ,  Gig was by Armstrong’s side, helping him up and towards their ship’s medical bay.

 

“I’ll get Signet,” said Tender.

 

“No, I got it,” said Gig, “I know first aid.”

 

“Okay,” said Tender slowly.

 

Grand briefly wondered if they shouldn’t get Signet anyway and also, the rest of the crew to make sure that they would be absolutely prepared for when this turned out to be a double-cross.

 

“Well, since you’re coming back in a ship that has a large amount of blaster damage on it, I’m guessing that things didn’t go great,” said Even, by way of greeting.

 

“It was fine,” said Tender.

 

Even huffed a laugh. “Sure, okay- wait, where’s Gig?”

 

“He’s helping Armstrong get patched up,” said Grand, starting to pull the various machine parts he’d stolen out of his messenger bags.

 

“He’s- wait, Armstrong’s here?” said Even.

 

“Oh good, you do know him,” said Tender, as though Even knowing a person was added support to the  _ trust Armstrong _ side of things.

 

“Well, sort of, he was down on Quire and he and Gig-”

 

“You’re back!” said Fourteen, “How’d it go?”

 

“Okay,” said Tender.

 

Fourteen’s face crumpled with sympathy. “Signet’s just put some tea on, it looks like you need it- oh! Where’s Gig?”

 

Grand waved a hand. “In with Armstrong.”

 

Fourteen frowned. “Armstrong?”

 

“He’s fine,” said Tender, “I’ll tell you all about it over tea.”

 

“Oh.” Fourteen frowned, then took Tender’s arm. “Well, alright.”

 

“I’ll give you a hand with this stuff,” said Even, “You sure got a lot of it.”

 

“We were in a rush,” said Grand, “One of these things has to be it.” He paused. “Is Echo…”

 

“They’re watching Duck,” said Even, “you know how Duck worries when Gig goes without him.”

 

“Right,” said Grand, “I was just… checking. In case they were also on a mission.”

 

Even pressed his lips together in an attempt to hide a smile. “Right.”

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing, nothing,” said Even, “Let’s take a look at what you got.”

 

One of the smaller boxes  _ was _ thankfully the miniature high-powered generator they’d been sent for. The other items also turned out to not be total junk - a projector, a portable speaker, a mechanical arm that folded up into a cube, and a set of what Even thought  _ might _ have been tools for watchmaking.

 

“Gig’ll be able to use these for something even if we can’t,” said Even.

 

Grand huffed a laugh. “Yeah, he’ll- wait, where  _ is _ he?”

 

“He’s probably gone to see the others in the kitchen,” said Even with a shrug, “come on, we can tell them the good news.”

 

The kitchen was crowded, as were all rooms that had Duck in them. Tender and Fourteen shared a seat next to Signet, as Echo combed through Duck’s mane. Duck whinnied as they entered.

 

“What’s the verdict?” said Fourteen.

 

Even put the small generator on the table. It was about the same size as Signet’s teacup.

 

“That’s it?” frowned Signet.

 

“Apparently it can power a whole city,” said Even, “and this isn’t even the smallest there is.”

 

Signet hummed. “Well. At least it was worth the trouble.”

 

“Don’t pass judgement on that until you see who we brought back,” said Grand.

 

“He’s not that bad,” said Even.

 

“He shot Gig!”

 

“Well, look, if Gig’s not going to hold any grudges over that then I’m not either,” said Even.

 

“Oh, is this Armstrong?” said Echo, “Tender said he got shot, like, bravely defending you guys.”

 

“Scraped,” said Grand, “and we don’t know how that happened.”

 

“Is this something I need to take care of?” said Signet.

 

Tender waved a hand. “No, Gig was taking him to the medbay to- actually, that was a while ago.”

 

“I’ll go check,” said Grand.

 

“I’ll come with you,” said Echo.

 

“I don’t need help to walk across and check in a room,” said Grand.

 

“I’m not helping I’m just coming with you,” said Echo, “I’m walking with my good friend Grand-” Duck bumped their head against Echo’s shoulder and Echo laughed. “And Duck, of course.”

 

He could hear voices as they got closer to the medbay, muffled at first, and then cleared as they rounded the corner. Duck’s mane reached out and caught Grand and Echo’s wrist, tugging at them to stop.

 

“What-”

 

Echo made a frantic  _ be quiet _ noise.

 

“You recording?” asked Armstrong.

 

“I’m  _ always _ recording,” said Gig, “but I’m not broadcasting this. Not right now anyway.”

 

“ _ Always _ recording huh?” said Armstrong.

 

“Yeah, I-  _ yeah _ ,” said Gig, his breathing unusually ragged for someone just sitting in a medbay.

 

“Maybe we can watch the playback later,” said Armstrong.

 

“ _ Ohhh my god _ ,” hissed Echo, “ _ Okay _ , let’s go.”

 

“What-”

 

“Shh, shut up, Duck, thank you, so much, for the warning.”

 

Duck’s whinny sounded oddly like  _ you’re welcome _ .

 

Echo pulled Grandback through the corridors to the kitchen.

 

“That was fast,” said Even, “Everything okay?”

 

“Yep!” said Echo.

 

“No idea,” said Grand at the same moment, “Duck stopped us from going in.”

 

“And I am  _ so _ thankful for that,” said Echo, “And also we should probably give them, like, another hour at least.”

 

Even frowned. “Another- oh.  _ Oh _ . Yeah, because of… yeah.”

 

“So I shouldn’t worry that this Armstrong guy is going to blow us up or anything?” said Fourteen.

 

“Not until he and Gig make it out of the medbay,” said Even.

 

Grand sighed. “I guess, I mean, how much damage could he really do in there anyway.”

 

“I’m sure he’s being very gentle,” said Even.

 

“Oh my god,” said Echo.

 

“Being gentle with what?” said Grand.

 

“Absolutely do not worry about it,” said Echo, “Signet, can you pass the coffee? I would absolutely love one and I know Grand’ll have a coffee, right Grand?”

 

“Uh, sure.”

 

Echo gestured to the seat next to them, which was really just a slightly-wider-than-normal seat. Normally it was the one Tender and Fourteen shared, but now Fourteen was sitting across Tender’s lap as the shared the seat opposite him.

 

“I’m glad you came back okay,” said Echo, their voice quiet under the rest of the table’s conversation.

 

Grand felt very aware of how close Echo was. He wrapped his hands around his cup, mostly to have something to do with them.

 

“Thanks,” said Grand, as notchelantly as possible. “I mean, it was fine. I handled it.”

 

Echo bumped their shoulder with his, smiling at him. “I’m sure you did.”

 

“I totally handled it,” said Grand, settling back, “Let me tell you…”

 

Any of Grand’s worries about Armstrong were set aside under Echo’s warm gaze. And when Gig and Armstrong finally emerged (slightly under the predicted hour), Armstrong didn’t seem to be set to do anything more dangerous than knock over a teacup.

 

“But just so you know,” said Grand, “I’ve got my eye on you.”

 

“So do I,” said Gig, grinning.

 

“Well now,” said Armstrong, “ _ that _ I don’t mind.”

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi: mariusperkins on most places


End file.
